1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of ultrasonic devices and, more particularly, to a method for improving the ability of an ultrasonic system to sweep and lock onto a resonance frequency of a blade subjected to a heavy load at startup.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that electric scalpels and lasers can be used as a surgical instrument to perform the dual function of simultaneously effecting the incision and hemostatis of soft tissue by cauterizing tissues and blood vessels. However, such instruments employ very high temperatures to achieve coagulation, causing vaporization and fumes as well as splattering. Additionally, the use of such instruments often results in relatively wide zones of thermal tissue damage.
Cutting and cauterizing of tissue by means of surgical blades vibrated at high speeds by ultrasonic drive mechanisms is also well known. One of the problems associated with such ultrasonic cutting instruments is uncontrolled or undamped vibrations and the heat, as well as material fatigue resulting therefrom. In an operating room environment attempts have been made to control this heating problem by the inclusion of cooling systems with heat exchangers to cool the blade. In one known system, for example, the ultrasonic cutting and tissue fragmentation system requires a cooling system augmented with a water circulating jacket and means for irrigation and aspiration of the cutting site. Another known system requires the delivery of cryogenic fluids to the cutting blade.
It is known to limit the current delivered to the transducer as a means for limiting the heat generated therein. However, this could result in insufficient power to the blade at a time when it is needed for the most effective treatment of the patient. U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,387 to Thomas, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a system for controlling the heat in an ultrasonic surgical cutting and hemostasis system without the use of a coolant, by controlling the drive energy supplied to the blade. In the system according to this patent an ultrasonic generator is provided which produces an electrical signal of a particular voltage, current and frequency, e.g. 55,500 cycles per second. The generator is connected by a cable to a hand piece which contains piezoceramic elements forming an ultrasonic transducer. In response to a switch on the hand piece or a foot switch connected to the generator by another cable, the generator signal is applied to the transducer, which causes a longitudinal vibration of its elements. A structure connects the transducer to a surgical blade, which is thus vibrated at ultrasonic frequencies when the generator signal is applied to the transducer. The structure is designed to resonate at the selected frequency, thus amplifying the motion initiated by the transducer.
The signal provided to the transducer is controlled so as to provide power on demand to the transducer in response to the continuous or periodic sensing of the loading condition (tissue contact or withdrawal) of the blade. As a result, the device goes from a low power, idle state to a selectable high power, cutting state automatically depending on whether the scalpel is or is not in contact with tissue. A third, high power coagulation mode is manually selectable with automatic return to an idle power level when the blade is not in contact with tissue. Since the ultrasonic power is not continuously supplied to the blade, it generates less ambient heat, but imparts sufficient energy to the tissue for incisions and cauterization when necessary.
The control system in the Thomas patent is of the analog type. A phase lock loop (that includes a voltage controlled oscillator, a frequency divider, a power switch, a matching network and a phase detector), stabilizes the frequency applied to the hand piece. A microprocessor controls the amount of power by sampling the frequency, current and voltage applied to the hand piece, because these parameters change with load on the blade.
The power versus load curve in a generator in a typical ultrasonic surgical system, such as that described in the Thomas patent, has two segments. The first segment has a positive slope of increasing power as the load increases, which indicates constant current delivery. The second segment has a negative slope of decreasing power as the load increases, which indicates a constant or saturated output voltage. The regulated current for the first segment is fixed by the design of the electronic components and the second segment voltage is limited by the maximum output voltage of the design. This arrangement is inflexible since the power versus load characteristics of the output of such a system can not be optimized to various types of hand piece transducers and ultrasonic blades. The performance of traditional analog ultrasonic power systems for surgical instruments is affected by the component tolerances and their variability in the generator electronics due to changes in operating temperature. In particular, temperature changes can cause wide variations in key system parameters such as frequency lock range, drive signal level, and other system performance measures.
In order to operate an ultrasonic surgical system in an efficient manner, during startup the frequency of the signal supplied to the hand piece transducer is swept over a range to locate the resonance frequency. Once it is found, the generator phase lock loop locks on to the resonance frequency, continues to monitor the transducer current to voltage phase angle, and maintains the transducer resonating by driving it at the resonance frequency. A key function of such systems is to maintain the transducer resonating across load and temperature changes that vary the resonance frequency. However, these traditional ultrasonic drive systems have little or no flexibility with regards to adaptive frequency control. Such flexibility is key to the system's ability to discriminate undesired resonances. In particular, these systems can only search for resonance in one direction, i.e., with increasing or decreasing frequencies and their search pattern is fixed. The system cannot: (i) hop over other resonance modes or make any heuristic decisions, such as what resonance(s) to skip or lock onto, and (ii) ensure delivery of power only when appropriate frequency lock is achieved.
The prior art ultrasonic generator systems also have little flexibility with regard to amplitude control, which would allow the system to employ adaptive control algorithms and decision making. For example, these fixed systems lack the ability to make heuristic decisions with regards to the output drive, e.g., current or frequency, based on the load on the blade and/or the current to voltage phase angle. It also limits the system's ability to set optimal transducer drive signal levels for consistent efficient performance, which would increase the useful life of the transducer and ensure safe operating conditions for the blade. Further, the lack of control over amplitude and frequency control reduces the system's ability to perform diagnostic tests on the transducer/blade system and to support troubleshooting in general.
The ultrasonic system described in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/693,621, filed on Oct. 20, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference, possesses the ability to sweep the output drive frequency, monitor the frequency response of the ultrasonic transducer and blade, extract parameters from this response, and use these parameters for system diagnostics. This frequency sweep and response measurement mode is achieved via a digital code such that the output drive frequency can be stepped with high resolution, accuracy, and repeatability not existent in prior art ultrasonic systems.
There are problems associated with existing ultrasonic systems. For example, such systems experience difficulty starting while the blade is under certain load conditions. Blade loading occurs when the blade comes into contact with skin tissue or as a result of debris getting between the blade and blade sheath. A major complaint of users of such ultrasonic generators is their failure to start under a moderate to heavy load. In the presence of a light to moderate load, debris between the blade and the blade sheath can load the blade such that startup or the ability of the blade to start in free standing air is degraded.
An acoustic system with minimal dampening level is more readily put into motion than one that is heavily loaded, i.e., damped. The electronics used to drive the transducer, operate best when used with a hand piece/blade which is easily put into motion. Higher voltages/currents more readily place a heavily loaded acoustic system into motion or into a more significant motion than lower voltages/currents, thereby providing a greater ability to initiate and lock onto resonance. However, it is not possible to achieve startup using such a hand piece/blade when it is subjected to a heavy load at a low voltage. Furthermore, a hand piece/blade which is successfully resonating and then placed under a heavy load can continue to resonate.
Generally, when an initial attempt to sweep over a frequency range and locate the resonance of the blade is performed, the voltage applied to the transducer is relatively low. This can result in either of the following conditions: First, a limitation experienced with startup under load results from an insufficient current feedback signal level. In this case, the impedance of the blade and the load are such that the voltage level applied to the hand piece at resonance produces a current feedback signal which is too small for the detection circuitry in the generator to read.
Second, another limiting factor is “sticktion,” i.e., the blade getting stuck in the load. Here, the energy applied to the hand piece is insufficient to initiate blade motion, and the hand piece/blade responds as if there is a very large mechanical load. This condition may result in a highly damped hand piece/blade where the phase angle between the current and voltage never crosses zero, resulting an inability to detect resonance using zero crossing. Once the blade is in motion, this “static inertia” or “static frictional” force is no longer as great as it is at startup. At this point, the load can be increased or the drive signal decreased without causing a loss of resonance lock. A further limiting effect is gunking of the blade, i.e., the embedding of blood and other debris between the blade and the sheath to thereby load down the blade. The gunk itself loads the blade and decreases the capacity of the blade tip to successfully start under load.
Moreover, initially the primary intended resonance frequency of the blade is not known, therefore a sweep across a fairly wide frequency range is often performed by the generator. This “wide sweep” approach has several problems. First, locating the resonance is time consuming. If the sweep begins at one end of the sweep range, but the primary resonance is at the other end, a considerable amount of time is consumed to find the primary resonance. Second, it is possible to mistake a secondary resonance (a resonance not desired) for the primary resonance. Since there are other blade resonances (referred to herein as secondary resonances), the frequency sweep may encounter a secondary resonance before encountering the primary resonance. By limiting the sweep range, inadvertent locks onto the secondary resonances can be reduced. However, limiting the sweep range complicates blade design since the permitted primary resonance range of a blade becomes limited, and thus adds constraints to blade designs.
Another problem present in conventional ultrasonic devices is that the stability of the frequency control lock for power is affected by “ringing” of the transducer as the frequency approaches the resonance area of the blade.